


Blinded

by celestialcass



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blind Character, Blindness, Blood and Injury, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gen, I'm Sorry, Injury Recovery, Major Character Injury, No Romance, Permanent Injury, Platonic Relationships, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2018-11-17 06:17:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11269698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestialcass/pseuds/celestialcass
Summary: Being left alone on a Galra ship is a dangerous thing.Being small and physically weaker than the other Paladins adds to that.Being the smartest won't save you everytime.Pidge is attacked and wounded severely by a Galra fighter while helping the team.





	1. Chapter One

 

In hindsight, leaving anyone alone on a Galra ship is a really stupid idea.

Information had been found about the biggest Galra prison camp, and everyone had been eager to free those poor souls imprisoned in such barbarous conditions. The ship was heavily staffed with many layers of protection, and all hands were needed to infiltrate such a highly-guarded station. Even Allura was brought in the Black Lion to help, only Coran was left on the Castleship. 

After bypassing most of the security measures remotely("good job pidge"), the Black, Green and Blue lions flew quickly under the ship, hitching to the belly of the giant purple construct. 

To remain stealthy, the lions would remain outside the ship. Keith and Hunk flew just outside of the range of any defences, ready to back their teammates up with a distraction or attack if necessary.

The plan was to enter the ship, free all the prisoners they could, and destroy the evacuated camps to cripple the Galra's ability to hold captives. Allura was to take the bottom floor of the camps, Lance the next floor, Shiro the last, and Pidge to provide hacking cover and stealth assistance for everyone. It had been ran by Slav beforehand, who cautiously warned them the chance of injury was high, though death only happened in 18% of all realities.

It was a chance they had been willing to take.

Shiro's Galra hand glowed faintly as he exited his lion, approaching the entry point with caution. Heating his hand as much as he dared, he cut a precise circle in the hull of the ship. The alien metal melted swiftly and a bit of air rushed out as the pressure broke inside. Pidge, Lance, and Allura watched in silence as Shiro pushed himself inside the ship, floating into the dim light of the hole he created.

He disappeared inside, and they followed shortly after in order of their ascension. Shiro nodded at his team, murmuring "Let's do this quickly and quietly." before heading to his point of action. 

They had entered at a convenient point for them all, near the elevators. Pidge plugged her wrist-computer into the panel and bypassed the code restricting non-Galra transport, allowing Lance and Allura to head to their designated floors as well. Pidge headed to the control centre, knowing she had to access every floor of security at once. 

As far as they knew, there were only two guards at the centre. Pidge had reassured them she could take a few Galra drones, so she had to tackle this alone. _'No Biggie'_ She thought, pulse pounding as she approached down the glowing purple hallways. Ducking behind a corner, Pidge peered out at the door to the centre, seeing no sentries guarding it. 

Her eyes darted around the hallway, hazel orbs taking the scene in with a bit of confusion.

"Maybe they're on rotation?" She murmured under her breath. To be sure, she hid for over a minute behind the corner, keeping careful watch in every direction. Legs beginning to cramp from prolonged crouching, Pidge was about ready to head in when a huge Galra emerged from the door opposite the control centre. Violet light emanated from the open door, surrounding the hulking alien in an eerie glow. He walked deliberately down the hall, barely missing Pidge's hiding spot as he passed. As he walked away, the light allowed Pidge a good look at him. Scars and gaps in fur littered his neck and hands, and that was just the small amount of skin Pidge could see.

He was deadly, that much was obvious. No one had that many scars without winning just as many battles. 

The Galra entered the control centre. Pidge tried to peek inside while the doors were open, but she barely got a glimpse of a glowing computer screen before they shut with a swish.

Pidge's eyes narrowed and formed her bayard into a grappling hook. Aiming carefully, she shot the green hook at a ceiling panel that looked sturdy. It whizzed through the air swiftly, impaling into the panel and sticking securely. Pidge gave a few tugs to be sure it could hold her (admittedly light) weight, and it held. 

Pressing the bayard again to revert it to it's regular shape, the bayard retracted the green energy-based rope and pulled Pidge towards the panel in one smooth swing. Pidge bumped against the wall beside the panel, directly above the door to the control centre, but the resulting clank that echoed in the hall wasn't necessarily a bad thing. She wanted to lure the Galra out. 

She hung by her bayard, lodged in the ceiling, watching the door with an intense gaze. She had to get in there soon, or her team would be without her hacking assistance. After only a few seconds, two Galra sentries come rushing out into the hallway. 

Breathe in, breathe out.

With a sharp jerk, Pidge yanks her bayard out of the panel and drops the twenty feet onto the sentry nearest the now-open door. 

Slamming into it with armored feet, even Pidge's small stature is enough to crumple its robot head with sheer force. The sentry collapses onto the ground, down for the count. Pidge whirls around to face the other sentry, who is turning around with its gun trained on her. 

A quick duck to avoid the first shot, and Pidge leaps forward, tucking into a roll before finding her feet and swinging her bayard into the area she knows the sentry will be in. A surge of electricity tells her that her swing hits home, and she knows the shock will down the sentry due to prior experience. 

Pidge celebrates her swift victory for about half a second before she is grabbed by her suit. 

A choked gasp is forced out of her lungs as her armor constricts around her ribs as she is lifted into the air. 

"You insolent brat!" A snarling voice erupts from just behind her, and Pidge winces when the realization hits: _She forgot about the giant Galra._

Pidge tries to take in a breath, but he is holding her so tightly Pidge is sure that her ribs are bruising. Squirming hard, Pidge tries to swing her bayard back to hit him, but mid swing he lurches back and launches her against the wall next to him. 

Pidge hits the wall _hard_. 

Her back takes most of the damage, which isn't good because that means her jetpack is probably busted. Finally, she manages a shaky, choked gasp of air. Oxygen floods into her brain and hazel eyes flash open to see the Galra looking condescendingly down at her. 

She has to act fast. Her eyes flicker around for a moment before she plants a foot on the ground and lurches to the side clumsily, towards the open door. She crosses the threshold just before the Galra's fist slams into the wall where she just was, crushing part of the metal inwards with sheer strength. 

Huffing with exertion, Pidge spins her torso enough to meet his gaze and flash him a cheeky grin before slashing the door control panel with her bayard, cutting it clean in half and causing the doors to shut with considerable force. The last thing she sees of the Galra is the furious fire in his yellow eyes.

Pidge takes a moment to sit there on the floor, breathing heavily with adrenaline and effort as the angry roars of the Galra on the other sound permeate the door. 

No time to spare, she turns and rushes to the control panel. Wasting no time in plugging herself into the control matrix, Pidge thanks her lucky stars that the rest of the room is empty and unguarded.

"Pidge?" Lance's voice catches her off guard through the comms. "I need a door opened! Like yesterday!" 

Pidge chuckles. "I just got by this giant dude, one sec Lance. Anyone else need something right now?"

Her eyes search for relevant programs, fingers flying across the keys. She quickly bypasses the security measures and opens the master key program, which allows her to open any door she likes in the prisoner camps. She tracks Lance's suit and opens the three nearest doors to him, hoping one of them is the one he needs. 

"Thanks!" Pidge hears from Lance's end. 

Keith grumbles how they should hurry up, he's getting bored.

"Well i'm almost done up here, but if you could let me down the elevators that would be great!" Allura's clear voice comes over the comms.

Pidge taps a few keys to turn 'Only Galra hand signatures' into 'Only non-Galra hand signatures' in the code of the elevator security, and announces that they should all be able to get through the elevators now, and no Galra should be able to follow. 

Allura is voicing her thanks when Pidge hears a sickening crunch from behind her. 

Turning quickly, Pidge glimpses the last moments of the door being one whole piece as the giant Galra slices through the door vertically, crushing it into two pieces and shoving his way through. "YOU!" He snarles, spit flying and claws bared. 

"Uh oh." Pidge mutters quietly. 

Shiro says something, but Pidge can't hear him anymore, not over the deafeningly loud roar of the Galra. 

Pidge unplugs herself from the console and backs away from the destroyed door, knowing she only has seconds before he'll be on her. She spots a loose panel screw near the ground on the other side of the room. Unfortunately, it is way too close to the Galra who currently wants to murder her cruelly. 

Theres no time, there's no-

He's in. 

The Galra charges immediately, claws sharp and muscles bulging. He rushes her with a speed Pidge has no time to react to, with only muscle memory keeping her from being hit. Using battle tactics she barely remembers, Pidge lunges under his legs, trying to dodge him entirely. 

She's not so lucky. 

Pidge barely has time to surge forward, so there's no support for her landing on the ground as she hits the floor shoulder-first, jarring her hard and allowing the Galra the half-second advantage he needed to whirl around and charge again.

Shiro's saying something again, but Pidge can't focus on that, the Galra is coming up behind her.

He winds up a swing of his right arm, huge muscles bringing sharp claws in a strike directly at Pidge, who is only able to turn around to see the hit right before it slices her brutally in the face.

Pain. **_PAIN._**

Pidge can't think, she can't comprehend what just happened, there's wetness sliding down over her face and spraying her hands as they automatically try to cover the large wounds inflicted. The pain is all-encompassing. It seeps into her brain, into her nose, the tangy taste of blood enters her mouth. The strangest part is that she can't see the Galra anymore. She can't see anything but red. 

A blood-curdling scream rings out over the comms and echoes down the hall. It takes too long for Pidge to realize she's the one screaming. Miliseconds stretch by as the Galra's strike carries his arm up and over her, momentum carrying him into a pose that allows precious seconds of no openings for an attack.

"PIDGE!" A cry from her teammates shocks her back.

Her eyes are open but she can't see anything but the blood obscuring her vision, and her right eye hurts so much she can't even stand it, so she closes them and cries out in raw agony. Everything _hurts so much_ _she can't think_. She can't do anything without her eyes! How will she fight back now? It's-

Footsteps approach so quickly Pidge isn't even sure the Galra knows what to make of them before a loud metal-on-metal crunch is heard, and the Galra snarls. 

Red begins to fade from Pidge's vision as more hits land- whoever's here is handily beating the Galra, as the only noises of pain are from her and the Galra. Pidge whimpers on the ground until the fight is over with a gurgling noise from the Galra, and then silence in the room for a beat.

"PIDGE!" Shiro's voice. That makes sense. 

The comms are loud. Too loud. Allura's crying, Pidge notes deliriously. Maybe Hunk too. Pidge can make out a few words here and there- "jesus fucking hell-" "Shiro what's happening-" "-S SHE OKAY" "ARE YOU THERE PIDGE"

The red is still fading as Shiro's voice continues. "Pidge oh my god.. oh my god," He sounds frightened.

His hands are on her back, then her legs, and she's being carried. The pain increases with movement and Pidge is sobbing with every step. Salty tears mix with the tang of blood in her mouth. 

Shiro is crying too, she thinks. He keeps a steady stream of reassuring words, but he's saying stuff like "She's seriously injured" to the rest of the team. 

"It's her eyes." She hears, and that's the confirmation she needs to be certain, as the red fades to black. 

"Shiro.." She whispers in between broken sobs. 

"Katie please stay awake, please please.."

"Shiro.. I can't see. **Why can't I see?** " She tries to blink more, but the red is gone and there's only black and _blinking hurts so much-_

Silence overtakes the comms, a terrifying affirmation of what Pidge can't admit to herself.

They arrive to commotion. Pidge can only hear some of it, because she's falling and falling into blackness and she wants to sleep.. but Shiro keeps shaking her awake anxiously. 

"-oh god is that all hers? She's lost so much blood.." Hunk's voice is quiet but she can make out what he's saying.

A thin hand grasps hers, and whoever it is shakes so hard Shiro has to pry them off gently.

"A healing pod. NOW." He yells, running to what Pidge can only assume is the med bay.

Every step. Wracks her body with agony. "Shiro.. it hurts.."

"I know Katie I know... I'm so sorry.."

"Not... your.... f-fault.." She manages slowly, unconsciousness threatening her life.

She is placed in the pod carefully, someone typing something beside her. Pidge touches her face again before the pod begins, and the flayed skin leaves her hand wetter than before.

She finally sleeps, surrounded by cold alien technology and searing hot pain.

 

 


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Aftermath.

There's a certain comfort in floating in a void, the healing of a coma induced by the healing pods. It's like being surrounded by nothing at all and yet you feel some force caring and mending you. At least, that's how Pidge would describe it. It's a technological marvel, really.

But there are some things healing pods cannot fix. 

Pidge floats for days. The endless time asleep stretching to almost a week, until a cold breeze and a force envelops her, slowly waking her up with the care and precision obtained by magic or technology, she didn't know. Slowly, slowly, she floats to the surface of her consciousness, and then all at once she snaps awake. 

And her eyes snap open. 

But.. there's nothing. Inky blackness would be how the seeing describe it, but there really isn't anything at all. It's absolutely terrifying.

A hiss and the soft opening of machinery, and Pidge's weight is hardly supported anymore, so she slumps against the nearest surface. Her eyes blink shut, though it doesn't really make a difference. 

"H.. Hello?" She rasps slowly, trying to parse if she's alone or not. 

"Pidge?" Allura's voice sounds wary. "How are you feeling?" Pidge feels a hand, soft and dainty, on her arm. She starts, the touch sudden. 

"'Llura.. what.. what's happening?" Pidge tries to articulate, but feels _so weak.._ and she  _can't see._ "My.. my eyes.."

Allura makes a noise of distress and Pidge feels her reach away, pressing a few audible buttons.

"She's awake." Allura states clearly, and Pidge realizes that she must be speaking over the comms. Allura's arms return to her and Pidge feels herself whisked out of the pod, onto a chair and something warm wraps around her shoulders. She clutches at it desperately. She's so cold.

It takes hardly any time at all before she can hear rapid footsteps, loud and coming closer. 

"PIDGE!" It's Lance. "Oh my god, oh my god.. is she okay?"  
"I'm here, Lance. I.."

But she's interrupted by more heavy footsteps. "Pidge?" Hunk gets closer and touches her shoulder, nearly hyperventilating. "Oh.. oh no."

Pidge wants to ask what's so disturbing about her face, but she's still so out of it and four more sets of footsteps approach in tandem. 

"Pidge!" A gasp, and then a quiet "Katie.." follow.

Quickly, the air around her becomes disturbed. Pidge feels body heat from every angle, but for once, everyone seems to be stunned into silence.

"Katie.." Matt's voice. Oh no. Her addled brain recognizes the residual pain in her head, and she winces. "M.. Matt?"

The familiar form of her brother hugs her, holding tight and shaking. "How.. how could you let this happen?"

"Wh-" Pidge starts, but he isn't talking to her. "All of you! Weren't you supposed to protect each other? How do you let this happen to my BABY SISTER?" Matt's voice rises in pitch as well as anger, and he lets her go, presumably to face the others.

Shiro is quiet. "I.. I blame myself. If only I could've been there sooner.."

"YOU SHOULD'VE PROTECTED HER!" Matt's voice breaks, becomes thick with tears. 

Allura speaks up, in that special princess voice. "Matt, I know you're upset. We've all been shouldering this blame, doubting our abilities and hating that we couldn't help her. We're sorry." She sounds close to tears, despite the authoritative and sure words she used.

Matt's hand finds hers, and she clutches it weakly. He silences himself, sobbing quietly next to her, close to her ear. He's probably kneeling.

"I'm.. I'm so sorry Pidge." Shiro says, sounding broken. 

Pidge frowns in his general direction. "It.." Her voice is still so raspy. She clears her throat. "It wasn't anyone's fault. I want.. I want to know.. what do my eyes look like? You all sound upset about it.. Am I permanently.." She can't say it. She can't admit it to herself. But she knows.

Hunk bites the bullet and speaks up. "Your eyes.. the healing pod can't fix everything, and the damage was too much. Your eyes are.. they're milky. Clouded over. And you have scars across your cheek and brows." 

Pidge absorbs this information, slowly dissecting it and analyzing it, like the computers she always preferred. "I'll never.. I'll never see again, will I?"

Keith erupts for the first time. "We don't- We don't know that. Right? Allura, Coran, there's gotta be some magic you can do.. right?"

She opens and closes her eyes experimentally, as if her vision will return if she blinks it back.

Coran's voice comes quiet and contemplative. "There may be something we can do.. but I need to research. And there's nothing that would work for sure. Even if anything we try works, it would require extensive surgery.. or risky magic. It may take a while for us to even come up with a feasible solution, if i'm honest."

"Can't you do anything for her?" Oh, Matt's stopped crying. "You can't leave her like this.."

"We know, and we'll try. But there's.. no concrete solution here. Nothing easy or simple." Coran sounds immensely pained. 

Pidge just wants to sleep. Maybe this will all go away if she just sleeps. "I don't.. how will i.. how will I pilot green?"

"Oh, Pidge." Allura chokes out. 

"I want to pilot green. Will I ever be able to again?"

There's a silence, pregnant with unsaid truths and painful realities. 

She resolves to solve this, like everything. If nothing else, Pidge is a problem solver. Even with this .. she'll figure it out. She will. 

"Can I go to bed? I.. we can talk about this later."

"Of course." Hunk taps her lightly to let her know that he's there, and she wraps her arms around his neck as he picks her up, blanket still curled around her.

She hears muted conversation erupt behind them as she's carried out of the room, and for a few minutes she's left with only Hunk. 

"Hunk, I'm going to rely on you for this.. okay?" 

"For what, Pidge? Like, of course i'll help you, but what do you need?"

They stop, and a hissing sound indicates they've reached her room.

"I want to create new eyes. Maybe some kind of bio-tech, the Olkari can probably help, I don't know right now. But i'll need you to be my eyes in the meantime." Finally regaining some clarity to her mind, Pidge immediately starts forming schematics in her head, ideas and solutions to this whizzing around in her imagination. She'll solve this like any other problem. It's what she does. 

Hunk is silent for a moment. "If you think that'll work, I'll try my very best to help you build them. With our powers combined.." He almost makes a joke, trying to lighten the mood a bit. 

Pidge smiles. 

"We have to. Otherwise i'm useless to the team." 

Hunk is setting her down on the soft bed when he pauses. "Pidge, after all you've done you could never be-"

"I know.. but I can't just stop. You know that."

Hunk stays silent for a moment, then groans. "I just nodded, and now i realize you can't see that.. I.. yes. I know. We'll do it. I'm rambling now, just rest okay Pidgeon?"

Pidge nods, half poking fun at his blunder and half because she's too tired to say anything anymore. Turning her head onto the pillow, she begins drifting off.

Hunk chuckles a bit, still sounding uneasy but much more relaxed than before. 

The door hisses shut, and right before Pidge floats away into sleep, she feels that despite this horrible turn of events, things will eventually be okay. 

~

And Eventually, it was. 

After so much hardship and a LOT of work, Pidge's eyesight was partially restored with cybernetic replacements. 

But she would never be the same. 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry Pidge..


End file.
